Left 4 Dead Unusual Friend
by C.D. Drake
Summary: What would happen if you were left in a town full of zombies with no weapons? And what if one of those zombies was the only thing protecting you? This is that kind of story.


Have you ever had one of those days where you're fighting for your life and all of a sudden you're trapped in a dark place, filled will thousands of crazy sick people? Well I had one of those days. But, to make matters worse, one of them was following me. Though, I think I'm just going too fast here. Let's just start at the beginning.

It all started when my town got wind of the news of the first infection. This really scared everyone when they learned of the symptoms. How the disease changes your skin color and how it makes you lose your mind and become violent. The mutations also made people fear this even more. But, we soon decided to calm down since the first infected were many miles away. What we didn't expect was how fast the infection would spread to here.

We didn't really see it coming really. At first, all we knew was that everyone was getting sick or not feeling too well. I remember catching the flu while this was all happening. It felt like a really bad one too. I had to stay in the local hospital while the doctors took care of me and the other sick patients. It wasn't long before I would realize that I was lucky to get only the flu.

During my stay, the nurses moved a young woman into the room with me. They put her into the empty bed next to mine. I can remember what she used to look like. She was twenty years old with red hair, hazel eyes, and fair skin. Though one could tell she was sick from how pale her skin was becoming.

I can also remember the times when we first spoke to each other. The woman introduced herself as Maria. To returned the favor, I introduced myself as Zeke. Maria, or the one I used to know, was very friendly. She used to talk about many things like what career she wanted and how hard she worked at the college. I started feeling like she was a good friend to me from the long conversations we had in the few days I was there. But, on the day they would let me go, all hell broke loose.

When the doctors told me that it was ok for me to go, I noticed that Maria seemed very different. Her skin was all gray, her red hair seemed to turn more raven, and she sounded like she was breathing with a whale on her lungs. I wanted to say goodbye to her, but she was asleep at the time. So, I left without a word. As I was leaving the room, a doctor and nurse came into the door to check on her. I let them through before being on my way. As soon as I came up to the door that led to the stairs, I heard a horrible scream.

I looked down the hallway and heard what sounded like an army of angry people. The lights seemed to turn off in the other side off the hall from me as a doctor was running for his life. His face was filled with terror as his coat was covered in blood. As he ran, he looked at me with his eyes widened.

"RUN!!!" he shouted.

Suddenly, a long, thin object shot from the darkness and grabbed the doctor by the ankle. He tripped and screamed in terror as he was dragged into the darkness. I could hear something that sounded like a large group of people attacking something and tearing it apart. I could also hear more noises coming from the room I was in. I looked down on the floor of the doorway and saw blood. There was even a shadow of someone staggering out.

Soon, what came out of the room was Maria. But she wasn't the Maria I knew anymore. There was blood dripping from her mouth and a lot of it was on her hands. As she looked up at me, my blood ran cold as her eyes seemed to pierce right into me. Then, like a wild animal, she screamed and ran at me. Behind her, from out of the darkness, more people were running at me as well. I would only describe it as looking like a mob.

I quickly went through the door I was at and ran down the stairs as fast as I could. Once in a while I would just look up to the the nut jobs running down after me. I could tell that they were gaining on me. By the time I reached the fifth floor, the door in the floor below opened up as someone got in. I couldn't describe the person well since he was covered in scratch and bite marks. He fell to the floor and died on the spot, leaving the door open.

What came through the door was more of those gray skinned guys. They looked up at me and began running up the stairs after me. I wanted to go the other way, but I knew there was more following me. I had to think of something. So, logic told me to just go through the fifth floor door. As I entered the floor, I ran to the room across the hall, closed the door and locked it. I began to hear all of those people knocking on the door.

I knew it wasn't going to hold them for too long. And I felt I didn't have much options of where to go. The only way out I could see was an open window. I began to run for it, but then I noticed that, on a desk in a corner and under a lamp, there was a file. Being the curious person I was, I picked it up and began skimming through it.

"Tanks? Witches? Hunters? Boomers? Chargers? What is this?" was all I thought to myself.

But I didn't think it was important to read any further. I could hear the wackos were getting ready to bust through the door. I went back to my plan of getting out through the window. As I stuck my head out, I felt a sick feeling in my stomach from how high I was from the bottom. I knew this was the fifth floor. But, to me, it felt like ten! And I was soon faced with a problem.

There seemed to be no way for me to get down unless I decided to jump out and have my brains smashed against the pavement. There had to be another way. As I looked around, I soon found a fire escape to my right. Plus there was a thin ledge against the wall that seemed to lead to it. Since this seemed to be the only option I had for getting out of this hell hole of a hospital. So, just like you would typically see in those spy or action movies, I was hugging against the wall and sidling towards the fire escape.

I took a few glances down in the streets to see more of those gray freaks walking around. All over the place, they were staggering blindly as a few of them bumped into each other. They seemed to act like.... zombies. Then it hit me. This was the infection that everyone heard in the news. I don't know how it spread to our town, but it was bound to happen I guess.

In a matter of minutes, I could hear the zombies that chased me before broke down the door in that room I left. I had a smile on my face, knowing that they wouldn't find me anywhere in there. In fact, I was glad because I thought no zombie could even get me where I was. Unfortunately, as I was getting closer to the fire escape, I found that I was wrong. Oh so very wrong.

Someone (or maybe something) jumped and climbed onto the fire escape in an inhuman way. It sat onto the railing of it like an animal and stared at me. It looked like a man with tape on his pant legs and he was wearing a hoodie. The hood shaded his face. But even with his face shaded, I could still see his piercing eyes. He seemed to observe me while I could hear him grunt and snarl. It wasn't long before it looked like he was about to pounce.

I was able to get out of my mouth, "Oh shi-!" before I was cut off from the guy, who let out a scream as he pounced and grabbed me.

We fell off the ledge as he began to claw at me. Each swipe gave me unbearable pain as I watched as my blood with flying everywhere. As we kept falling, we flipped oven and I could see the ground coming at us quickly. I closed my eyes and passed out as this happened. After what seemed like a second or two to me, I woke up in the middle of a dark alleyway. It also felt like I was laying on something soft.

As I stood up, I looked down to see that I landed on that hooded guy, who seemed to cushion my fall. I could see that he was the one to have his brains all over the pavement this time. I looked down at the scratches he gave me. It made me glad to see that he didn't dig too far into my flesh. Though I couldn't help but notice that the guy seemed familiar. That made me remember the file.

I quickly skimmed through the papers again and found one with a photo that looked exactly like the guy. The page was labeled "Hunter".

"I see." I said to myself. "So, this file has info on some of the infection's mutations?"

After I said that, I felt a few drops of rain fall on me. It was at that moment I had to find shelter and fast. Hopefully a place that had no zombies in it. I looked around and found that the street to my left seemed clear and there was an open door across it. It seemed like an open invitation for me and I took it quickly. As I crossed the street, I made sure I kept quiet and hid behind some of the cars. I didn't want to be spotted by any of those things.

With quick actions and being as quiet as I could, I made it safely across and into the door. As I closed it, I could hear the rain starting to fall. The room was dark, save for the dim sunlight trying to get through the thick clouds and into the windows. By the way my footsteps echoed and there were many vague images of crates and boxes around, I could tell that I was in some sort of storage room. Feeling safe at the moment, I sat and leaned against one of the boxes while taking a deep breath. But something told me I wasn't alone.

Just then, I heard what sounded like someone was crying. And what felt creepy was that it sounded like this supposed "someone" was right next to me. I slowly turned my head and looked over to see what looked like a woman. I was surprised to see her even though if it was very dark. Her skin was pale white and her hair was ragged and gray. Apparently, she was also wearing nothing but underwear and a shredded top. But, the one thing that scared me about her was her hands.

Each of the woman's fingers were really long, sharp claws! I quickly scooted away from her and stood up against the wall. She also reminded me of the file as well. I took a look inside and saw, under the dim lighting, a photo of the same sort of woman. It said it was a witch. Witches, according to it, may seem harmless at first with their crying. But, when they're startled, they move really fast and attack like crazy! I couldn't help but feel a pit in my stomach since I couldn't help but imagine how much pain I would feel from getting sliced up by those long claws.

I wanted to get out of there and avoid her completely. But, at the same time, I didn't want to run out of the shelter and be spotted by the zombies. So, seeing I didn't have any choices. I tried to stay quiet and still as the witch kept on crying. The last thing I would want to do is get her attention. Unfortunately, I did.

The witch seemed to suddenly stop crying and turn her head slightly in my direction. Did she hear my breathing? I'm not too sure. Soon she stood up and turned towards me. Her ragged hair was covering her face as she walked slowly. I could feel my heart in my throat as she began to move closer. I didn't know what she was going to do.

Just then, without warning, a zombie broke through the door I came through and saw me. It let out a scream and ran towards me. The witch's eyes seemed to open wide as she looked at the zombie. She let out a horrifying scream of her own and ran as quick as a flash at the zombie. With her claws, she sliced the gray freak to bits! Afterward, she seemed to have calmed down.

I was relieved that the zombie was gone. But it looked like the witch was still getting closer! She completely tore up that zombie into ribbons! Would I be next? Many thoughts were buzzing in my head as the witch finally stood an inch away from me. After that, she just.... stood there. She appeared to be staring at me through her rag hair.

I didn't know what she was going to do and I didn't want to find out. Fear got the best of be as he turned to run. But then, I felt something rest on my back. I looked behind me to see the witch was leaning her face onto my shirt. Plus I could feel her tears soaking into it.

What was she doing? This didn't seem to make any sense. The file said that witches were dangerous. Yet this one saved my life by killing one of her own kind and is not even trying to kill me! Was this one different from the others? I didn't want to stick around and find out.

I quickly moved to a door that was on the other side of the room and looked back at the witch. She just stood in the same spot, staring at me again. I put my focus back on the door and slowly opened it. It was another clear area. My guess was that currently most of the infected were near the hospital. But I knew it wouldn't be that way for long. I had to get out of town ASAP and find some help.

I decided it would be best to keep going through town and find the closest exit. But I didn't really have any weapons on me. Nor did anyone I knew in town. So, I thought I was pretty much screwed. It didn't matter anyway. I had to get out of there!

Taking a deep breath, I decided to walk down the street. Knowing my way around town, I knew the nearest exit was only a few blocks away. As I was walking, I couldn't help but notice the sounds of footsteps behind me. When I stopped walking, the noises stopped. When I started again, it started again. I suddenly had an idea of what it was and looked behind me to see the witch.

I didn't want her following me at the time. I though that if she hung around me, she would make everyone think I was one of the infected or something. So, I started going on a jog. She started jogging after me. Soon I began to sprint. She sprinted as well.

Finding my chance, I jumped to the side and rolled into another alley. The ran past it and began looking around in confusion. Making sure I made myself hidden, I spied on the witch as she looked around for me. After a minute, she slumped down onto the ground and began crying again. I took this moment to go through the other side of the alley and keep going on my way.

But then, a strange noise echoed in the area. It sounded like someone was coughing. Plus I couldn't help but notice the pungent stench of smoke. I was thinking that maybe a fellow survivor was smoking nearby. That was until something long and slimy wrapped around me and began dragging me into the shadows.

I looked back to see a zombie with tumors on its face and arms. It was surrounded by bits and pieces of things I didn't want to know about and out of its mouth was a long tongue, which it grabbed me with. It began to pull me towards itself with its hands at the ready to claw at my face. I couldn't help but shout for help. But I forgot that witch was nearby. My shouting startled her as she looked in the alley I was in and rushed forward. I closed my eyes, thinking this was the end.

But then, I felt the tongue loosen as I could hear something get sliced up. I looked back to see the witch was standing in a cloud of smoke. The witch looked at me again before walking over and sitting next to me. Just then, like before, she rested her face on me while her tears soaked onto my shirt. It was then that my fear of her was reduced to nervousness. Why was she saving my skin? Was she different from the others? I wasn't sure then.

For the rest of the time of my escape, it was always the same cycle of events. Zombies attack me. The witch following me gets startled. There's a lot of sliced up body parts. Repeat. There were also times where I occasionally took breaks by looking over the file I found.

The one with the long tongue I ran into was a smoker. I even remember seeing ones with large muscles that could not fit in some of the places I hid. They were tanks. I even saw one with one large arm and a small one. The file said it was a charger. But the ones I found most annoying were the jockeys. The witch took care of them easily.

It took me all day to make it out of town on foot. All the places I climbed, sneaked around, or hid in allowed me to avoid more conflicts as possible. I was lucky I didn't run into too many zombies or else even the witch wouldn't stop them. As for the witch, though she never said anything and seems to cry a lot, I felt she was one of my best friends. Sure she maybe sick with the infection. But she appeared to be a good friend.

As I ran through the field with my apparent "friend". A chopper was flying overhead. I squinted as the bright spotlight from it shone down on my. I waved and shouted at them to show that I wasn't infected. As for the witch, she was startled by the bright light and began blindly swinging her claws around while screaming. Ropes rolled out of the vehicle as what appeared to be soldiers slid down and pointed their guns at her. Some of them even pointed guns at me.

They told me that I was coming with them before one of them hit me in the back of the head with his weapon. Everything was black for a while. But then I woke up in a small bedroom. I looked around and saw what looked like a doctor that was looking me over.

"Ah, you're awake!" he said. "How are you feeling right now."

I sat with with a nasty headache and said, "I feel like someone ran my head over with a truck!"

The doctor laughed a little. "Well that's natural after being hit like that from the back of a rifle."

"Who are you anyway?" I asked him.

"Oh, sorry for not introducing myself. I'm Dr. Smith. I'm the man in charge of checking up on you and taking blood samples."

"Blood samples? What for?"

"Well, the team and I were surprised that you didn't contract the infection. Though, for a while, we thought you weren't anything special when we took a look at the hospital record. You had the flu right? At what time did you get it?"

"Wait, you've been looking at my private information?"

"Answer the question Zeke."

"Ugh...... Yeah I had the flu. I got it a day or two before I went into the hospital. Why do you ask?"

"Ah, so you are immune!"

"Huh?"

"Well I know you're probably confused about this, so I'll try to explain. You see, I'm not sure if you know about this, but the infection hit your town a week before you had the flu. We thought it wouldn't be a surprise that you would be resistant since you were already sick with something else. But then we found out how fast the infection worked. You can probably remember that from your few days in the hospital. We also remember the area you lived in. The suburbs was where the epidemic started in your town. By the time you had the flu and went to the hospital, everyone in your neighborhood became zombies. This makes us believe you have a gene that makes you immune to the virus. Though, we need the results of the blood tests to confirm that."

Just then, another doctor came in with some papers and handed them to Smith.

"Speak of the devil! The results are in!"

He took a look through them. Soon, he had a face filled with disappointment.

"What's wrong doc?" I asked him.

He shook his head and said, "Well, you are immune. But only to the strain within your neighborhood. All the other strains infected your blood." He made a sigh. "I really thought we would have a breakthrough today."

He stood up and picked up all of his papers and tools. With a glance at me, he said, "Well, you're free to go now. There will be some soldiers that will take you to one of the safe areas."

I was glad that I would be in some place safer. But then I remembered something. "Wait! What about that witch that was following me? What happened to her?"

He looked at me before saying, "Follow me."

We left the room as he led me through the halls of the building. I could tell that we were in some medical laboratory from all the places where people were testing blood and looking over what appeared to be patients. Dr. Smith soon led me to a large room that was filled with what seemed to be enclosures. Each one had a large window of thick glass for scientists or anyone else to look in. Inside each one, there were many infected people. Most were zombies, but a few were the special ones. I watched as in one enclosure, a smoker was shooting its tong out at the walls around it. A hunter let out some snarls as he jumped around his small space. It wasn't long before Smith led me to the one I wanted to see.

"Here she is. SI-112. We nicknamed her Eve. Though, her old name was Samantha."

I looked through the window to see the witch I met before. She sat in the middle of her enclosure while crying very loudly. All around her, the walls were covered in claw marks. Some old, some new. I was guessing this is where they kept her.

He looked at him and asked, "What does the SI stand for?"

He looked back with a smile. "The SI stands for Stealth Infected. The SI are created from a new strain of the infection we created. We made it to where they only attack other infected individuals. And the best part is that the normal infected wont attack the stealth ones! Eve is our newest experiment. We originally put her in your town as a means to see if she could significantly reduce the numbers of infected by herself. But, what we didn't expect is that she would run into you."

"Why didn't you expect that?"

Eve heard us talking and looked over. She walked up to the window while facing me and rested her head on it. I could see tears falling to the floor as she did this. My attention went back to the doctor as he continued.

"Well, to tell the truth, what we didn't expect was that she would take a liking to you. The way she followed you around and protected you from the infected, tells us that she may have kept some of her humanity in her."

"And which sort of humanity did she keep?"

He smiled at me. "The sort of humanity that makes you not want to be alone."

"How come you guys didn't notice this before you put her in the field?"

"Well, we were actually pretty scared of her. Witches are very aggressive you know. None of us wanted to risk any death or injury from her. But, now that we've seen her with you, we can tell that she's not a bad as the other ones."

As he said this, I put my hand on the window. More tears seemed to fall from her eyes. I looked back at the doctor and asked, "So, now that she's been in the field, what will happen to her now?"

He just shrugged and said, "Well, since she killed about a few hundred zombies, hunters, smokers, and other witches, I'd have to say that she's ready to join the other SI's here for her next mission."

"Would I be able to see her again sometime?"

He looked at me in confusion. "What? Why?"

"Well she saved my life while I was trying to get out of that hell hole. I should be able to at least visit her."

"Sorry, I can't allow you to do that."

"Why not?!"

"Look around you Zeke! These SI's have been saving lives as well. If we just went and let people visit one of them, we would have to do it with all of them. And that poses a serious risk. After all, not all of the SI's here are as friendly as Eve. I think it's best you just forget about her and worry about getting to the safe colony."

I sighed and said, "Alright...."

He nodded with a smile. "Good. Now let's get you out of here and to your new temporary home."

As Smith walked away to lead me to the exit, I stared at the witch for a few more seconds. Her tears were still falling to the floor. As I started walking away, I could hear her crying again. Her cries echoed through the whole area. I never saw her again. But, I was still a little glad that I met her. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be here right now.

Well, that's the story. I hope I didn't bore you with all the details. I never was good at storytelling. But, anyway, when I was put into the safe colony, I learned more about the infected and had training for my new job. You see, for some reason, they decided to make me in charge of guarding the area from any infected that wander near the place. As for the witch, Eve, I heard that she was sent to a city in the west coast with a hunter, tank, and boomer to help with keeping things under control over there. I can already tell that she's going to make a blood bath over there with her new partners.

* * *

**This is just a short story I did on my spare time.**


End file.
